John Rozek's fantasy football drafting tips

1. Know your scoring system. Player values vary greatly by league, and you need to draft accordingly. In leagues that award a point per reception, wide receivers and certain running backs (such as Reggie Bush) are more valuable than if they don't get any points for receptions. It's tough to win if you use a standard cheat sheet for every type of league.

2. Don't draft a quarterback early. Quarterbacks tend to be the highest-scoring players, so people think they need to draft them early. But in most scoring systems, the difference in points scored between the top starting quarterback and the last one in your league isn't that much. Why draft a QB in the second or third round when you can draft one in the eighth round who's going to score only a couple of fewer points per week.

3. Draft the best player available in the first few rounds. You need a deep team at wide receiver and running back to cover bye weeks and injuries. Don't be the team that fills out its starting lineup before selecting any backups.

4. Don't draft a kicker or defense early. At the end of the year, the top players at these positions are rarely the same ones everyone predicted at the beginning of the season. The Saints ended up last year as one of the top-ranked defenses in most leagues but were ranked as one of the worst going into this season.

5. Have fun. This is probably the most important rule. The draft should be the most fun day of the year for the league. Why compete in a league if you don't enjoy it?